Growing power of China and India cannot be ignored: Singapore
Growing power of China and India cannot be ignored: Singapore
Agence France-Presse, Singapore
The United States will remain the leading power for the
foreseeable future but the rising influence of China and India
can no longer be ignored, Singapore's defense minister said on
Thursday.
Japan is also playing a more active role in the global
strategic arena, making the future of the Asia-Pacific region
dependent on the moves by these three regional giants, Defense
Minister Teo Chee Hean said.
"The military and political power of the U.S. has been a pre-
eminent factor for a long time and will continue to be so for the
foreseeable future," Teo said in a speech to Asia-Pacific
military officers at a seminar here.
"But China and India can no longer be ignored. They both have
aspirations to be regional, if not global, powers. They are fast
gaining economic clout and in the process they are reshaping the
geopolitical contours of the region."
The stability of relations between and among China, Japan and
India as well as their individual bilateral ties with the United
States are crucial to the region's future, he said.
"With their sheer size and strategic weight, what these
regional powers do will, like shifts in major tectonic plates,
reshape the geopolitical contours of the region," Teo said.
"The complexion of the Asia-Pacific strategic environment will
be colored by how these three regional powers conduct themselves
in relation to one another and to the U.S.
"The Sino-U.S., U.S.-Japan, Sino-Japanese, Sino-Indian and
U.S.-India relationships make up the complex environment which
will determine the region's future."
China, the world's most populous nation, now sees itself as a
regional power, while India "has been casting its gaze beyond the
subcontinent," Teo said. Japan, the world's second largest
economy, is claiming a more active strategic role globally.
But the relationship between Washington and Beijing "is of the
greatest significance" because of their strategic weights and the
"warininess" with which both view each other, he said.
"It would be to the detriment of regional peace and stability
if the U.S. and China get locked into an adversarial
relationship. This need not happen and countries in this region
would certainly not want to see such a confrontation," Teo said.